| er you are reading this whilst sat at home or in the | | | | which resembles sheets of cellophane coloured in red, |
| office, the chances are that there is an inkjet printer | | | | blue, yellow and grey all stuck together end to end. |
| near to where you are right now. Inkjet printers have | | | | Solid dyes are embedded in this film, which correspond |
| been around since the second half of the 1980s and | | | | to the 4 basic colours used in printing. The printer head |
| since that time have increased significantly in popularity | | | | then uses a heating element which varies in |
| and performance whilst decreasing in price all the time. | | | | temperature depending on the amount of colour to be |
| An inkjet printer is defined as one which creates | | | | printed. The colour dyes vaporise and permeate the |
| images by placing minute droplets of ink onto the | | | | paper before turning to solid form. |
| paper. These dots are between 50 and 60 microns in | | | | The internal workings of an inkjet printer consist of the |
| diameter which is smaller than the width of a human | | | | print head assembly which contains the print head |
| hair (70 microns). These dots are positioned precisely | | | | itself, ink cartridges, print head stepper motor, the belt |
| with resolutions up to 1440x720 dots per inch possible. | | | | which attaches the print head to the motor and the |
| There are several types of printer technology | | | | stabilizer bar which ensures that the movement is |
| available. Impact printers have a mechanism which | | | | smooth, precise and controlled. The paper feed |
| touches the paper in order to print the image. These | | | | assembly simply consists of the paper tray, rollers and |
| come in 2 forms: dot matrix printers which make use | | | | the paper feed stepper motor which supply paper into |
| of a series of small pins which transfer the ink to the | | | | the printer. |
| paper and character based printing which are basically | | | | There is only a small amount of circuitry which is build |
| computerized typewriters. These consist of a ball or | | | | into the printer however it needs to be fairly |
| series of bars with letters and numbers embossed on | | | | sophisticated in order to control all the mechanical |
| the surface. This surface is then struck against an ink | | | | aspects of the operation. Interface ports allow the |
| ribbon in order to transfer the character's image to the | | | | printer to be connected to the computer. Some |
| paper. Inkjet printers are non-impact printers and can | | | | computers still make use of the parallel port however it |
| also come in LaserJet printers which use dry ink, static | | | | is now commonplace for most printers to use the USB |
| electricity and heat in order to place and bond ink to | | | | port. |
| the paper. | | | | The first printers to be available were large, bulky |
| Solid in printers contain ink that comes in a form similar | | | | affairs however advances in technology have meant |
| to sticks of wax. These are melted then applied to the | | | | that they are much smaller, sleeker and cheaper than |
| paper before the ink hardens into plae. Dye-sublimation | | | | the printers of yesteryear. |
| printers make use of a long transparent roll of film | | | | |